Pre-Christmas in Richmond

We spent Christmas in Virginia at Uncle Eric and Aunt Mary’s house.  We enjoyed playing with cousins, aunts and uncles and Grammy and Pepere too.  In addition to all of the fun and extra attention, Jacob found some time to lend a hand in the kitchen.

Here he is helping Grammy and Aunt Megan bake cookies.  Not sure what is happening with his arms…

Cleaning the beater…his reward for assisting with the frosting for Baby Jesus’s birthday cake.

While Jacob was working hard, Lilian enjoyed time with Brendan.

How cute are these two?

On Christmas Eve we made attempt #1 at getting a picture of the four oldest cousins. Out of about 50 pictures snapped, this was the best shot. We didn’t think it was safe to add Ann Monroe to this mix – Conor and Brendan barely escaped with both of their ears intact.

Stay tuned for more Christmas pictures!

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Merry Christmas!

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Driving In My Car

This is an old video…taken the same day as this and this, that I never posted.  I thought it was too cute not to share.  Jacob is performing a song that we sing at the music program we attend at the library.  These are the lyrics in case you have trouble understanding him:

Driving in my car (repeat 2x), Driving all the way to Mineapolis in my car!

Red Light STOP!

What sound do the windshield wipers make?

Swish Swish Swish Swish (repeat 3 times)

Red Light, STOP!

What sound does the car muffin (muffler) make?

(Motor sound)

Driving in my car (repeat 2x), Driving all the way to Mineapolis in my car!

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Adventures in Crawling

In the short time since Lilian crawled for the first time on Tuesday, she has already gotten herself into all sorts of fun situations!

Is it possible that our children are somewhat genetically predisposed to having an infatuation with the vacuum cleaner?

Hey Mom! Look at this silver kiddie pool I found!

I think the clean laundry looks much better on the floor!

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Kids in a Basket

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We Have a Crawler!

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Attempt #1

I have started to realize that it usually takes more than one try to get a decent picture of both kids in any given situation.  The furry kid adds a whole other dimension of fun!

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A-Hunting We Will Go

Our Horse Drawn Wagon

Christmas tree hunting, that is.  On Saturday, December 1st we bundled ourselves up and braved the freezing weather – 29 degrees and snowing – to find and chop down our Christmas tree.  We drove out to Markowski’s Tree Farm in Suffield.  We loved this particular farm last year because you don’t just get a tree, you get an entire holiday experience.  Members of the Markowski family drive you out to the the 300+ acres of tree fields in a horse-drawn wagon.  The horses are decked out with jingle bells and everyone sings Christmas carols on the wagon.  Unless you were on our wagon, in which case Keith and Sandra sing alone while the rest of the tree-seekers sit and awkwardly stare.

Ready to Hunt!

Once they drop you off the real fun begins.  Truthfully, our hunt was pretty quick this year due to the weather, but we found a great tree and didn’t even have to cut half of it off to fit it in the house like last year!

Our Tree!

Once we found “the one”, and took the obligatory photos, Keith got to work chopping it down.  Last year Keith was given a broken saw (or so he says…) so the cutting portion took forever.  I took about 15 pictures of him under the tree.  This year, thanks to a proper tool he had the tree on the ground in no time and I didn’t get one picture of him hanging out from underneath it.

Keith 1, Tree 0

After cutting down your tree, you drag it to the nearest tractor to be transported back to the farm and ride back on the next wagon.  Thankfully, our wagon mates on the return trip were feeling the Christmas spirit a bit more than the people we rode out with so we were not the only ones singing.

The Camera Crew

In case you were wondering, Lilian and I were there too.  We were just manning the camera (and trying to stay warm) while Keith and Jacob did the heavy lifting.

Warming up!

Once we arrived back at the farm, Lilian and I headed back to the car to escape the wind while the boys finished up with the tree.

Hanging His First Ornament!

Despite the freezing temperatures and winds our excursion was a success.  Hopefully it will be a tad less arctic next year…I’ve already submitted my request for warmer weather the first weekend in December 2013.

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Eight Months!

Lilian turned eight months the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She marked the occasion by taking her first plane flight and visiting Texas for the first time! I realize that I say this every month but I absolutely cannot believe how big she is getting.

She has grown so much in just the last couple of months – both physically and developmentally. I put her on our scale the other day and she is weighing in at 19.5lbs. She has gained 5 pounds since her six month appointment!

As you might expect after reading about her recent weight gain, she loves to eat. Lilian tried and enjoyed scrambled eggs, almond butter and peanut butter this month. Like Jacob at this age she will eat pretty much anything you put in front of her. The only exception is kale. She has tried it at least five times and doesn’t seem to care for it, which is funny because it is currently Jacob’s favorite vegetable.

This month she managed to get on all fours but never figured out how to move herself forward. After several attempts that had her sliding further and further away from the object she was trying to reach, she seems to have abandoned the idea of crawling and has turned her sights toward walking instead. She is getting more and more steady at standing with assistance. She can balance while just holding a finger in each of her chubby little fists! Thankfully she is nowhere near where her brother was at this point so it is highly unlikely that we will have a walker in the next month. For this Lilian’s mommy is very grateful!

Our sweet girl also learned to clap this month. She seems to love music as much as her big brother and starts clapping when he sings to her.  She also claps for herself after she does something challenging, which is one of the cutest things we’ve ever seen.

In the past month Lilian has returned to her early (good) sleep habits. She typically goes down around 8 and sleeps for a good 10-12 hours. On the mornings that she wakes before 7, she eats and immediately goes back to sleep for 2-3 hours.

Although we’d like our sweet little girl to just slow down and not grow up so fast, we continue to feel so blessed and amazed to be her parents and are enjoying every moment as we watch her grow.

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Happy Feast of Saint Nicholas!

Jacob and Lilian left their shoes outside their rooms last night and had a fun surprise waiting when they woke up this morning!

There’s a SCOOP in my shoe!

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